Song of Sages
by Ramko
Summary: A story that takes place several generations after all current LoZ games. It follows, for the most part, the story of the Descendant of the Sage of the Temple of Light. Hopefully most of the games have been incorperated.Legend of Zelda is owned by Ninte
1. The Plot of the Desert Man

Long ago, in the land of Hyrule, there resided a great Golden Power: The Triforce. Left behind by the three Goddesses of the land; Din, Goddess of Power, Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom, and Farore, Goddess of Courage. The Triforce was a source of great Power, but also great war. The People grew selfish, all wanting to claim the Triforce as their own, all losing something precious. The King of Hyrule, seeing all the Chaos it called, ordered Seven Sages to seal the power of the Triforce away, forever. The Sage's seal was cast, the Triforce to be locked away for all time. 

_But as with all things powerful, there was something amiss. 100 years after the Sage's seal was cast, their descendants began to disappear, and a mysterious man from the desert emerges to show his role…._

_Yes…._ Gannondorf mused. _It is a good plan…but it was just like the last 7 or 8 that I have already failed at!_ He brooded. He decided that maybe he would hire an advice cabinet. Copious underlings were nice, but there was no intelligence, just "Yes, massssster!", or "No, massssster!", or "Are you certain that you can put that elephant there, masssssster?". Oh, how he hated that lisp that all underlings had who were capable of speech. That was about all the intelligence that factotums were able to perform, unless they were backstabbers. Those were the ones you had to watch out for. He hadn't had many of those; they were usually crushed by random quicksand pits he could summon out of nowhere.

He sighed. A great heaving sigh. Every time he took these Scions of the Sages, some Hero of Time would always step up and rescue them, usually maiming him in the process. That was Gannondorf's least favorite part. Even though he was an evil megalomaniac bent on making all creatures of Hyrule his slaves, did not mean that he was not human. Ok, so he wasn't _all_ human, but still, he deserved to be treated as a person! Oh, how his blood boiled when he thought of the Hero of Time.

He contemplated. Now he had learned his lesson. He decided to go ahead, and mix things up a bit. He laughed. Not manically, but a sort of deep chuckle in his throat. It was evil sounding, though.

He threw on his cape and departed. Now was the time to put his new plan into play. To Link he went. 


	2. Enter Link

Link awoke with a start. He had had the Zelda dream again. Good Goddesses, this meant he had to go out and rescue her and the Seven Sages and/or their descendants. Again. He sighed, pulled on his Green Tunic, slipped his belt over his waist, adjusted the Master Sword at his hips, put his Cap on, and put assorted Bombs and Arrows and Staffs and Spells in whatever nooks and crannies he could find. He thanked Farore for poké-bombs. How else would he fit his bombs into his pockets AND be able to run with them?

He did this all as quietly as he could trying to not wake Navi. Unfortunately, he had no such luck. She immediately zipped up in his hair and started squeaking "Hey, listen!" at him, trying to give him proper combing directions by utilizing the 'Z' button. He sighed, ignored her, and stuffed her under his cap, so now her calls were slightly muffled.

He stepped out of his house. It was raining. Oh, as if things could not get any worse. He groaned, and tried to remember where he had tethered Epona.

A whoosh of cloth and a thump of boots lightly hitting the earth sounded behind him. Link turned and did the only verbal thing he could do. He screamed.

_[It came from a conversation I had with a friend how Link carries all his bows, hammers, explosives, etc. _


	3. Zelda wonders

Now it was Zelda who was galvanized from slumber. She cast her eyes suspiciously about her room, surveying about her room for Gannondorf. With no soul about her room, she felt secure. She sighed contentedly and went back to sleep. 


	4. Descendant of the Temple of Light

The Son of the Sage of the Temple of Light did not awake. In fact, he was about to fall asleep: more soundly than he had been for days. Oh, how he loathed being the only youth in a gaggle of maidens that consisted of the Seven Sages Descendants, at their head Zelda. It was their "_time_" and there was no escaping it, no peace to be had, even though he was male. He did not bleed, but he was around those who did. All the moaning and complaining, and he had to endure it all. It was uncanny, and unnerving, how the Daughters did everything together, with perfect rhythm, or if not in synchronization, in harmony of each other. If even one was thrown off, everyone felt as if they were in chaos, even him, even though he was fairly certain that he only felt a fraction of the other's throes.

It was strange, how all the Descendants were of the female variety, excepting him of course. His father had told him, that as the legend went amongst the Sages, that after they had sealed the Triforce, the king had paid them fatly, granting them lands and treasures that humble acolytes such as themselves would have abhorred beforehand. But they took what was thought to be their just reward, and took it greedily. The King and Queen of Hyrule did not take kindly to their Sage's increasing demands and laid a spell upon them: one of obscurity. Their offspring would only be daughters, and would not carry their names throughout history. The men would not be remembered; just their deeds.

He was a Son of a Descendant because the Sage of the line that he harkened back from had supposedly given up his share of the reward to uphold his vows of poverty, was omitted from the Royal Family's hex, and thus was capable of having sons to bring through the name of the family. The others, after having the curse of daughters laid upon them did not take kindly to one of their ranks being more privileged than themselves. So the others had retaliated against his ancestor, and placed a spell on the one that they thought had no bewitching upon him. A spell for a spell, they thought. Since they would only be blighted with daughters, allow the family with sons only one child. Unfortunately, after affecting their intended, it reciprocated unto them, causing all Sages and their descendants to produce only one child per generation. The Sages were connected, for better or for worse. So they gave up their feuds, and lived with their irrevocable decisions in relative consonance.

Though there was no outright warfare between the Sage lines that did not stop frivolous rivalries. The "Oh, that's my hairbrush!" and "Who got this stain on my gown?!" and of course the "Back off! Link is mine!" 's were exceptionally vicious during their delicate state of month. The fact that they were also capable of "magics" did not make things safer.

He mused behind heavy eyelids that he would put the pots and pans back tomorrow. He felt that the others would be sane enough not to be too tempted to hit him with heavy objects. He relaxed both his mind and body and fell into an undisturbed sleep. 


	5. The Humble Life of Sages

Raulin stepped away from the baking vendors both in the castle town's square. He looked about the sunrise soaked cobblestones and the few early risers who currently occupied the space, and tried to get into their heads. Imagine life the way they see it. How they saw him. He then got himself imagining that he was peasant imagining the Seven Sage's Scions. He saw himself as a maiden first off, and let out a mental groan, but continued along the train of thought. He saw himself living in the Temple of Light, sitting upon a throne, sated with the Prayer that he received from the Hylians, and the blessings that (s)he would bestow upon the avid followers and the worthy.

He stepped in a pile of horse droppings, and was roused from his contemplation. He looked at his boot and laughed. He was still on the peasant thoughts of his glorified lifestyle. That the vast majority of people thought the Sages lived in their respective Temples. That was quite untrue. A Sage could, if they so decided, but they preferred, for the most part to reside with the other Sages in their house in Hyrule Castle Town, with the exception of Zelda, who obviously lived in her castle. They could bring themselves to their Temple in a heartbeat with their Song, if they needed to, though. How that worked, he had no idea. The songs were of a Zelda's creation, so he guessed when the Royal Family married with one of the Sages, their child had substantial "magics" that were passed down through the generations, eventually coming to the Zelda with a musical fetish, who made the Songs for each Temple, which since passed down to each Sage.

The Royal House also held the Sacred Items that various Links had retrieved for them. The Magic Mirror and Moon Pearl, Sacred Texts, the Ocarina of Time, and most importantly, the knowledge of the key to the Triforce.

Though the Ocarina of Time was for royal family members only, the Descendants still had the instrument of their preference. For instance, Zelda used a lyre, after her cross-dressing ancestor, who also instigated the musical system. Raulin had no patience for this sort of thing, so he just sung. He felt awkward singing in front of the girls, but it worked sufficiently enough to get him to the Temple of Light, which was his charge.

He stepped inside the house that he shared with the other girls and laid their breakfast out on the table from his basket, and went to his room to go back to sleep. He had barely stretched out on his bed, flopped over to lie on his stomach, stuffed his hands under his pillow and shut his eyes, when Impa came and sat on top of him.

"C'mon!" she said brightly "Zelda wants to see us!"

Raulin groaned his most heartfelt groan. He hated going to the castle. He did not mind Zelda- well, she did bug him a little bit, but not that much. Though they were still reclusive, the Sages were doing better at integrating themselves into day-to-day life, though without proclaiming that they were the Descendants of the Seven Sages, whereas Zelda was a high-and-mighty royal troglodyte, reigning over the other Sages. Sometimes, when he was around her, he just had to ask himself, _who died and made you Zeld---never mind._

"Gnunf" he replied "Snurgle werhfn"

Impa ignored all the insults he just made to her dog, and yanked him up by the long, pointy ear. Hard. So maybe she had not totally ignored them. 


	6. To the Castle We Go

Maybe the reason he really disliked seeing Zelda was that everything was so… formal. Everyone was elegantly dressed in their gowns and finery. Just like whenever Gannondorf came to call, to lock them into their crystals. The worst part was everyone was in dress. Even Raulin. It was horribly embarrassing, but the others encouraged it for equality, as some still had hard feelings as only being allowed to be girls in the presence of the sole male Descendant. So he could kind of understand being stuffed into gowns for such meetings, but not entirely.

What was worse though, was when Link would finally come to Temple to save him from the twisted Temple Guardians. Every Temple had one, to make certain that if the Sage of the Temple could not protect the Temple sufficiently, the Guardians would. The Guardian's first priority was the Sage, then the Temple to which they were assigned. When Gannondorf would trap them in their crystal, the Sages were incapable of doing anything, so the Guardians would over-react and try and destroy all things that came to the Sage in their defunct state. This was true of even Heroes of Time. The Guardians were strange things that would manifest their shape to suit their environment, and as they had much time on their hands, led to bizarre shape choices. After Link would "kill" them, they would sift their remaining energy to destroy the Crystal, thus freeing their Sage. Why the did not do this in the first place, Raulin supposed, was self-preservation preserved the Temple more than being dead, so in essence, was a last-ditch effort on the part of the Guardian. After being destroyed, they would wait for the Sage to "rebirth" them so they could go back to guarding their Temple and Sage.

He supposed that it was part of the job, being a Sage's Descendant that he had to play the part of an innocent maiden, but it was still so humiliating. What if Link found out one day? He did not think it was that big of a deal if just maintained his masculinity when he was forced to crystallized, but apparently Zelda thought that there would be less incentive for Link, if he were to rescue another man. A man who was dumb enough to be crystallized by Gannondorf in the first part.

Raulin thought this was horribly sexist on the part of the Princess, because men, he was certain, were just as affected by dark "magics" as women were, and the fact that he was affected by them same as the maidens was not his fault. Besides, even if he was less susceptible to Gannondorf's power, it would mean that he would have to be the one to rescue all the rest of the Descendants, which would horribly upset most of them, because they would not be rescued by Link.

He sighed. It was moments like this that he thought it would just be easier to be a girl, and let someone rescue him without him feeling awkward. Plus he could wear a dress without feeling self-conscious also. He would not mind his name not being carried through, it was just a name. 


	7. The Loneliness of Men

They came upon the Castle, and went inside to one of its drawing rooms. The Castle's goal was to emanate light, and did it ever. One had to squint just to get through the gateway. He supposed it was to dissuade the powers of darkness from trying to take over the castle, again, but this just made it seem that Zelda was showing off.

They came upon the Princess in the hall foyer, where a window looked into a placid courtyard, and in the hall itself, strange pieces of art with a strange mustachioed man in a red hat seemed to be trying to leap at them, and a horribly deformed green dodongo with legs and a rounded nose, with a saddle upon its back, was almost…smiling at them…it was eerie.

Raulin shuddered as he looked upon it. He blenched a little as Lœpenu gently tickled him on the side to get his attention. She was a strange one- the keeper of the Spirit Temple. For one, she was the only who touched him. Not in a sensual or flirting way, but simply because it seemed that she craved physical contact, as though to make certain she was still there. Because the girls seemed to ignore her more often than not, Raulin had taken it upon himself to befriend her, and they had developed a certain amity. She would come up to him quietly, implore him with her eyes, and they would wrap each other in an embrace for a time, just quietly holding onto one another. He certainly did not mind. Many times, he thought, he needed such an envoloptation as much or sometimes more, than her. It did not bother him, and she in return, was the first to come to his aid, or help him with rudimentary chores and other such things.

"Ummm, the Princess has been trying to get you attention for sometime, Raulin."

Her hushed spoken tone brought him back to the Castle's Foyer, and he turned his attention to Zelda.

"To the Temple of Light," she spoke coolly. "I would personally like to get there sometime today"

The others laughed with her, Lœpenu cracking a quiet smile at Zelda's mild joke of his tendency to be sucked into reverie.

He slightly blushed and arranged them all in a circle according to their place in the Chamber of Sages in his Temple, making certain that everyone was evenly spaced so as not to test the uncertain transportation. No one truly knew the extent of power, or the potency of the teleportation. Nonetheless, it was the only way for everyone to go to the Sacred Realm where the Temple of Light resided. He could get there on his own in a totally different way, but that was only carrying himself.

He paused before going to his place, the gap in the circle where his place was. Why did Zelda need them at his Temple? There was something she did not feel safe discussing within the walls of her own home, and this could only mean something was amiss. Gannondorf, perhaps. His eyes widened at the thought and he felt his innards freeze. He felt as though he may vomit, but composed himself. His form, as it was, was his own, as were his memories of himself, but as his father explained to him, the Sages were all reincarnations that seemed to follow along familial ties. From father to daughter, then daughter to daughter, daughter to daughter, and etcetera to the current generation. No Sage of this generation was actually captured by Gannondorf, but they all had the handed-down memories of the times of quiet despair within each of their solitary confinements, although, it was only of the time that each Sage had spent in their Temple. It was strange, that they knew nothing else of their predecessors, except of their time of imprisonment and sealage, but he supposed that it was the only way to prove that one was a Sage, without overwhelming the mind as the generation's Memory continued. His father would speak of memories far back that Raulin could not recall with in his Memory of the Sage of the Temple of Light, so it seemed that a little was lost in the time between the generations, to be replaced by the new ones that he was creating, right now.

Sometimes, though, a next generation was not created for the Sages, and the Memory had nowhere to go. The other Sages could not take care of their province with one of their number not among them, so they did not function. These were times of chaos, where Gannondorf would have the upper hand and could move on to other things. When a Sage was not about, there was only one thing for the Memory to do until the next Sage of the Line was born. It had only happened twice thus far in recorded history, where a Zora and a Goron actually took the places of Sages at the same time.They were just placeholders for that time in history, until the Memory could make a Sage Heir from the current Sage.

The female Descendants could have children the way nature had devised, with the man of their choosing. However, if a female Sage were to fail to do that, the Memory would plant a seed within her, to blossom forth as the next Sage, by her choice or not. The line of Sages had to continue to protect the Temple at any cost, by her choice or no.

Being the only male Descendant, he had a different set of rules. He could only make a Heir the natural way, but he would have to make one. If he did not of his own free will, well, the Memory had too much power over him. Over all of them. He did not want to let something other than him have such control over something that should be so beautiful and so personal. He would not wish such a fate on any woman, and so, he was determined to find someone that he could be true with.

He knew though, why some would rather succumb to the carnal madness instead of finding a soul-partner. The woman who would be the offspring Sage's mother always dies shortly after the birth of the Sage Heir. He did not know why it was that she did, all that was know was that she would. The worst part though, was that the child would only take after the Sage's side- a child, unwittingly, almost totally erasing the memory of the mother.

The thought made him horribly lonely, and he felt as though this was the second curse laid upon the male Sages. He looked upon the girls, and felt hot jealousy. This is probably why he most wished he was female. They had choices to make, but there was not of the same magnitude as his. There were no lesser of two evils for him. Either way, only paths of loneliness were laid before him.

It was frustrating, there was no way out. Sages could not be killed- they could be cast off, hidden from view sealed away, but never dead, by their hand or another's. They could only die of old age, which was usually after the younger generation of Sages blossomed forth, causing the previous to die. The Sages would awaken as their true self whenever the Princess Zelda did. What caused her to awaken into form, only the Goddesses knew. All that the rest knew is that they followed right after her. If a Sage from the previous generation had still not born their offspring, that was the occasion for the substitute, but that was quite rare.

In exchange for being "immortal" for their time as Sages, they could never have a weapon. Though anything could be used as a weapon, even one's own body, they could not bring themselves to harm another living being. Ever. Their minds would blank out, their bodies fell useless upon the floor. Not a one of them could even touch a sword without suffering a horrible burning sensation in their entire body for the next couple days.

In contrast, the Hero of Time had a short life, even for normal Hylians. Gifted with magical and physical prowess, able to wield any weapon under Din, Farore and Nayru's heavens, after he defeated his Gannondorf, his strength would leave him, helpless, reduced to nothing, not even the comparatively small strength he would have had had he been a normal man.

The Sages would gather his poor, battered body after the last battle, and place him in the Temple of Light to live out his last days peacefully, almost as a saint. No one would remember Link afterward, only the Sages. The Sages, who were the only ones to remember.

_[so, in fact, Raulin was not in that much danger of being hit by cooking pots. _


	8. A Grim Meeting

They stood near each other, breathing in sync. Zelda, across from Raulin, brought out her lyre, Saria, to his left, of the Forest Temple, put her ocarina, an heirloom, to her lips. Dyrin of the Fire Temple, had a tambourine by her side to keep the beat, and Naltu, of the Water Temple, held a sitar in both hands plucking it slightly to check intonation. Impa was next to her, and sang an alto part, with Lœpenu holding a reeded flute casually in one hand next to her.

They all took a deep breath, and Raulin sung out in his tenor voice. The others followed, and with their unlikely melding of instruments, sounding out the _Hymn of the Goddesses _to warp themselves to the Temple of Light in the Sacred Realm.

The Sacred Realm has been called many things. After the Great Golden War, it was called the Dark World, which was quite ironic. It was, beforehand, untainted illumination, until so many rushed in to try and obtain the Triforce after the first Sages sealed the path to Golden Realm. It was in fact, so wholesome, that it brought out the purest essence of a person. The people, frightened by their shape change, thought that it was black magics, and called it the "Dark World" because of it. The Dark World, afterward, was somehow wiped completely clean of any human inhabitants. Raulin believed there was some foul play on the part of the Descendants of that time.

Then it was called the "Twilight Realm" by the Twili, which was passed somehow, to the Hylians. The Twili, who thought that the Goddesses had barred them from the Sacred Realm for rising against them, were sadly mistaken for generations, thinking that Hyrule was actually the Sacred Realm. They had been banished from Hyrule, but the extradited Twili were in the actual Sacred Realm, to keep their powers in check, and prevent another uprising against the Goddesses. The Twili did not find out, until a Queen, by the name of Midna, had quested for the truth of her people, had found an epiphany of truth, enlightened, she said, by the Goddesses.

The Twili now lived in the Sacred Realm quite happily. Beyond the Sages, they were the only inhabitants. They were such a frequent sight, the Temple of Light's Guardian had even picked up their form for a time.

Raulin greeted the Guardian at the entrance, and laid his offering of thanks to it in the palm of his hand. It took the sustenance and swallowed it gratefully, allowing them to pass. It dissipated, and they continued through to the Chamber of Sages.

Ancient archives said that the Chamber of Sages was once an unearthly beauty- waterspouts shooting from nowhere, diamond walls, and a mysterious blue sheen to the entire room. It was now quite different. The entire Temple of Light, in fact, had been totally destroyed during the "Dark World" Era, and had to be renovated. The Chamber of Sages was now just a courtyard with seven pillars in the middle, with the insignia of each temple there, and a great hovering blue crystal, supposedly from the original Temple of Light.

They each took on their forms on their emblems, and took a few minutes to compose themselves, and to try to keep from vomiting. It was wretched traveling like that- one could not even begin to describe how nauseating it is to return to great physical mass after being so free-just drifting particles with only a slight sense of purpose.

Poor Impa, she had the weakest stomach of them all. She had to run to the Chamber Pot of Sages, placed in the corner for such an occasion. _Definitely something the Hylians did not think happened to such "magnificent" beings…._ Raulin mused.

After Impa returned back to her normal sheen and took her place, Dyrin, a big-boned girl with flaxen colored hair and a deep copper skin tone twirled her hair impatiently and interrupted Zelda. She too, did not care for the Princess, however, she was the only one rudely unequivocal enough to put her feelings right up front.

"So, cut the dross Zelda. What's going on?" Dyrin smiled at her cynically "If you brought us here to play tea-party again, I'll be heading out."

Dyrin stood, and Zelda gave her such a look of hatred.

"Unrefined mountain refuse" Zelda spat sotto voce, but still just loud enough for everyone to hear, while looking straight ahead placidly, maintaining the appearance of the coy, polite Princess.

"I have asked you to come here today-" _she didn't ask,_ Raulin thought slightly infuriated, _she doth commandeth us here_ " For a dire reason."

"They ran out of biscuits!?" Dyrin asked pseudo-incredulously.

Zelda shot her the Look, while the rest of the girls stared on, quietly uncomfortable, Dyrin smugly and angrily and challengingly staring back, while Raulin, who did not agree with Dyrin's bluntness and wanted to go home to rest, interjected.

"Zelda, please continue." He looked at Dyrin. "And you will keep civil to all, while you are in my Temple. My Temple, my rule. Be as churlish as you like in your Temple, but here you will be courteous."

"Brown-nosin' Lon-lon milksop" Dyrin muttered

Raulin did not bother to chastise her further, he knew matters would only be made worse by that. She would frizzle out, eventually. The last thing he needed was to have two Descendants, one of them the Princess Zelda herself, lying stunned on the pavilion, while the rest waited so they could get on with the meeting.

Impa, who was crouching on her haunches as patiently as she could, which was not very, finally stood and said "Milady, what was it that you brought us here for?"

Zelda, managing to look less frazzled than before, sat with a _plooompf!_ of skirts, looked as majestic as she could, and began.

"I have felt a heavy cloud loom over Hyrule" Raulin felt his core start to become benumbed, and the perspiration start on the skin of his back, neck, armpits and chest. He felt his vision fuzz in and out.

"Ganondorf, I think, is on the move. Slowly, things have started to die, to be brought back as vile and frightening monsters. The natural cycle is being disturbed. The Desert Storms grow stronger, and the biting air comes into the fields and crops, and kills most life. I have heard from travelers from Termina that the same is happening there."

Here, Naltu added, "The Zora's have been saying the same. Their relatives from Termina have come here to see if there is some refuge, but it seems as though it is even worse in Hyrule."

Zelda looked troubled by the news. "There is no telling when Ganondorf will strike, but I fear it will be soon. Someone has to wake the Hero of Time. We need to find our Link. Who shall-"

"I will" Raulin stated abrubtly. He had no idea what posessed him to suddenly blurt that out.

Zelda studied him. "You do know what that requires, Raulin? It is so strange of you to volunteer, considering you never do, and you know what it entails."

"I know what I must do." Raulin's breath soughed between his lips. He did not know why he was doing this, but now he must save face and carry through. "I must find the Hero of Time, and make certain he finds his way to the Master Sword."

"But to do that….?" Zelda inquired, and the girls giggle not so supressedly.

"I must…must…" Poor Raulin, his face began to flush.

"Must….?" Zelda pressed

"Must give him the Breath of Knowing." He said in a rush.

"By…?" Zelda pursued

Raulin scrunched up lips.

"By the mouth, so that the Hero receives the Breath fully"

Saria sighed heartfeltedly. "Oh, but were it to be my turn!" she said dramatically.

He looked at her. "You may have this turn, if you like!" he said, losing his earlier self-integrity.

The green-haired girl laughed, in a beautiful way. "Oh, no, I couldn't do that to you after you so eagerly volunteered!"

"Oh, of course not…" Raulin mumbled, walking out of the Courtyard, getting ready for his journey. How he just wished for his bed…. 


	9. Difficult Packing

Lœpenu watched him pack.

"How long..?" she asked

He looked at her. She obviously did not want to be left alone, but he wasn't sure that she wanted to be brought along either. He decided to not invite her unless she asked. This was a little unfair of Raulin, because he knew that Lœpenu would not impose herself, and was too timid to ask.

"Not very. I just need to figure out where he is." He went back to his knapsack, placing a couple choice spells there, making certain not to put them too close to his food, for fear of a reaction happening. He had incinerated all his supplies once, and that was enough. Fortunately, it was only Impa who was with him, and she did not give him too much of a hard time….

"Why not have Zelda call him? It worked in the past…."

"I already said I would go, so now I must. And now that I've said that I would go, if I back down, I'm certain she could find some excuse to not be able to call him. Headache, I bet."

"Why do you give Zelda such pique? What has she done to deserve such resentment? She's not all bad…"

"It's not what she has done," Raulin groused "it's what she has not."

Lœpenu looked out the window. She walked over to him, stooped down and helped him clasp his satchel with the wooden clasp and they stood, her about four inches taller than he. She stroked his face, her thumb pressing gently over the cheekbone.

Raulin was concerned that this might happen. He knew that affection between the Sages could blossom, but it would soon be cut, and would irrefutably end in tribulation.

"Ah, um, Lœpenu? Might I ask what you're doing?" Raulin's voice faltered. He felt, more than heard her say "Such softness…"

She withdrew her hand. "Nothing. It is nothing. It is always nothing."

They ebbed into a very edgy silence. She wandered to the window, and sighed, looking out at the quiet alley behind the bustling courtyard. A cat slinked by, took a rat with lightning movements, and played with it. When the vermin was finally killed, the cat ate it with gusto, and many smacking noises to accompany the feasting. A serenade to indulgence for the cat, a dirge for rats.

Raulin spoke, trying to forget the strange events prior. "Zelda has already located the land to which Link calls home. I just need to find his home, then I'll soon come bI won't be long."

He stood, and Lœpenu followed, gave him kiss atop his head, and embraced him, saying "Farore's speed, Din's Strength, and Nayru's admiration be with you…" a common prayer to the traveling.

"And to you." Raulin walked out, Lœpenu following to the front doorframe. 


	10. Over Hills and Through Field

Nothing very eventful happened as he went through Hyrule Field. A lot of walking, grunting, and being ambushed by heli-flowers, but nothing out of the ordinary. He mentally groaned as he thought of Malon's Horse and Milk Stand that he had passed about three hours prior. He had rented a horse, a sturdy and unshakable beast, quiet, solid, but who was determined not to trot more than six paces, despite whatever means he applied to the gelding. He wished he had bought more milk for the journey, and perhaps a crop, but no griping about it now….

He leapt off his horse to stretch, and saw that the sun was setting. He began to grow a bit worried. Unholy things walked the dark in Hyrule Field, for there had been nothing to restrain them. He did not fear for his life, but for his time. The sooner he could get to Link, the better. If he were lying, bleeding, in a ditch, it would be most difficult to find the Hero of Time.

He saw a long rod, a bendy willow stick and grabbed it. He tied a string to the stick, and tied the other end of the string a carrot that he had brought with him. The horse looked over and smacked its lips, and so Raulin ended up going in circle for a bit trying to get on the horse without the beast eating the carrot. Finally managing to do so, he dangled in front of the gelding's piebald face. The horse drew back its lips, extended its tounge, trying to get the carrot, even picked up his feet a little more to try and complete its quest. This venture was soon forgotten by the horse, who saw long stalks of grass to its left and took a mouthful of this instead. The weeping carrot was forgotten. 


End file.
